Syrian air defenses foil drones, rockets fired at key base

Syria says its air defenses in the Hmeimim air base have thwarted projectiles and drones fired by terrorist groups.

Terrorist groups fired projectiles at Hmeimim, situated in Latakia’s Jableh district, as well as the nearby Qardaha neighborhood, the Syrian TV reported on Saturday.

It also noted that the attack had left one person dead and several others wounded.

Syria’s official SANA news agency confirmed that terrorists based in the provinces of Idlib and Latakia had fired rockets at Sharasher and Hweiz villages in Lattakia countryside, killing one civilian and injuring two others.

The terrorist attack, it added, also caused material damage to Syrian houses.

In recent weeks, there has been a surge in attacks from Idlib which is the last major terrorist stronghold.

Russia has been piling pressure on Turkey to start an operation against terrorist-held areas after Ankara’s failure to get militants linked to al-Qaeda out of a buffer zone agreed between the two countries.

In September, a deal was struck with the assistance of Russia and Turkey to make Idlib a de-escalation zone. The area is now largely controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham which was formerly known as Jubhat al-Nusra.

Russia has said it will refuse to consider terrorists “untouchable” and continue to target them.

The fresh raid came hours after Syrian air defenses intercepted “hostile targets” coming from Israel.